Slow SQL performance in VM

[aalborz02]

Host: ESXi 4.1.0 Build 348481

Memory: 6 GB

VM

-------

Windows 2008 R2 64-bit

SQL 2008 R2-64bit

Memory: (8 GB per Edit Settings & OS) - (3 GB per vSphere client!)

CPU: 1

SCSI Controller type: Paravirtual

Running a sql query on a very small test database locally is VERY VERY SLOW...Any ideas why this is happening?

Btw not sure if this is related, but there are warnings about Video RAM:

"Warning message on SPVMIMPAC1439:
Insufficient video RAM. The maximum resolution
of the virtual machine will be limited to
1672x1254. To use the configured maximum
resolution of 2560x1600, increase the amount of
video RAM allocated to this virtual machine by
setting svga.vramSize="16384000" in the virtual
machine's configuration file. 
warning
8/8/2011 3:50:33 PM
SPVMIMPAC1439
root"

Could this be the cause?

Are there specific performance counters I can enable to shed a light on this issue? Perhaps on the Disk, Storage Adapter or Storage Path?

TIA

Alex

[DSTAVERT]

How much RAM does the host have? You show 6GB in your post????

Video RAM is unlikely to be an issue but I would adjust anyway.

Performance troubleshooting guide

http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/10179

What storage are you using?

Have you tried a second vCPU?

[aalborz02]

Host has 6 GB and VM guest has 4 GB now. The storage is local disk (SAS drives).

I upped CPU to 4 and will see if that makes a difference.

[Rumple]

you will find that upping that tto 4 vCPU is not gonig to help...probably just make your read times worse.

how is your storage designed and do you ahve as hardware rAID controller with Write back enabled (and also have a battery on the raid controller).

Typically for SQL with higher end loads I find 2 vCPU with 4GB pretty much a nice compromise on resources vs performance...but you need to have a solid storage design on your esx host....lots of disk's making up your array helps alot too.